Something has to give!

Like most of you on here, I love training, routine and structure to my life. Have had six weeks away from it though due to illness and the need for a good, long think about my priorities after over a decade of training and racing.
I listed all the things I wanted to do each week:

A long easy run.
A 5k fast run (Parkrun)
A cx or crit group session at the local track (super hard).
A long bike ride 5hrs + (including the odd bikepacking overnighter).
1-2 swims.
Some weight training.

This actually creates a half decent plan:

Mon; weights
Tues; swim am, long run pm
Wed; weights
Thurs; crit training
Friday; off
Sat; swim, bike, run (pick one or all depending on mood)
Sun; long ride.

Allā€™s good.

THEN I thought; Iā€™d like to include some TR structured training. So added a low volume plan and put everything into the calendar.

Gave me 800+ tss weeks.

So the moral of the story is: Canā€™t do everything!

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Try adding in wife and kids time too! Thatā€™s at least 500 TSS a week alone.

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Yep. And I work 40hrs/wk outdoors in a physical job.

Have a Google for ā€˜Essentialismā€™ - you may enjoy some reading.

Which of the activities is a 9 or 10 out of 10 for you? As you say, you canā€™t do everything, and ā€˜goodā€™ things to do are the enemy of ā€˜greatā€™ things to do, so have another look at your list and think about which are the ā€˜greatā€™ things for you - which really ignite your passion, fit with what you want from sport etc, and these will be the 9 or 10 out of 10 items on your list. Chuck the restā€¦ 8/10 just doesnā€™t cut it as it robs you of the time/energy/chance to do the 10/10 stuff! :wink:

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Iā€™m in a similar position.
Just more gym and no swim.
Solution is very low intensity rides. Only once a week some interval training rest of it just z1 or Z2 in 5zone model.

Completely agree with your ā€œmoral of the storyā€.

This is why I switched to training towards goals based on specific events. I donā€™t have the time to do everything that I want to do, so the event becomes the filter - I train the aspects that will help me improve most for that event.

It really helps deal with the FOMO I get when I focus on the kinds of training I should do.

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The top list are my 9/10, 10/10 aspects of exercise that I love.
Interval training on the turbo is a means to an end but seeing as my end has switched from racing to enjoying being out and about, thatā€™s what has to give.

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